The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers that allows individuals and organizations around the world to communicate and to share information with one another. The World Wide Web (WWW), also known as the Web, is a collection of information resources contained in documents located on individual computers around the world and is one of the fastest growing parts of the Internet. Prevalent on the Web are multimedia web sites offering and selling goods and services to individuals, i.e. Customers. A web site consists of at least one, and often many interconnected, web pages.
Entrepreneurs are rapidly creating web sites to take advantage of the growing number of Customers using the Internet and Customers willingness to purchase goods and services over the Web. Web sites created by Entrepreneurs may be reached by millions of Internet savvy Customers, thereby allowing Entrepreneurs to offer their products and services to a very large pool of potential Customers. The quality of the Entrepreneur's web site is vital to the success of the Entrepreneur's Internet businesses as the web site is the access point for Customers to purchase the Entrepreneur's goods and services.
Entrepreneurs trying to start an Internet business may include individuals starting a home Internet business, corporations designed specifically for operation on the Internet or even existing corporations that are taking advantage of the popularity of the Internet to increase their sales with new and existing Customers. As the popularity of the Internet continues to increase with Customers, the number of new Entrepreneurs chasing Internet using Customers will also increase.
The process for starting an Internet business has many important steps and many of these steps require some specific technical knowledge or legal expertise to effectively complete. Small Entrepreneurs, and even many larger Entrepreneurs, typically do not have sufficient resources or expertise in each area to complete all the steps in the most effective manner. A mistake or poor implementation in any one of the steps at the time of creation of an Internet business may severally limit its later effectiveness.
One of the first steps in creating an Internet business is to select an available domain name by which the Entrepreneur's web site may be reached. Each web site has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address that comprises a 32 bit binary number, typically shown in dotted decimal notation, e.g. 192.145.68.112. However, IP addresses, even in dotted decimal notation, are difficult to remember and use by Customers. Browsers, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, solve this problem by receiving domain names from Customers and then working with the Domain Name System (DNS) (a distributed Internet directory service) to find the IP address for the desired web site.
An Entrepreneur may obtain a domain name by accessing and registering an available domain name through a Registrar. For example, the Entrepreneur may connect to the web site at www.GoDaddy.Com, owned and operated by The Go Daddy Group, Inc., and follow their online process for registering a domain name. Once the domain name has been registered, the Entrepreneur may point the domain name to their web site via the DNS, thereby providing Customers with an easy method of locating and accessing the Entrepreneur's web site.
Selecting a domain name poses several problems. The domain name is preferably easy to remember, easy to spell, complements the type of goods and services to be sold, and, of course, must be available. The domain name should also not be confusingly similar to an existing famous trademark or confusingly similar to a trademark covering goods or services similar to the goods or services sold on the Entrepreneur's web site. The sheer number of previously registered domain names and existing trademarks make the selection process of a domain name very difficult.
Over time, the registered domain name may acquire considerable name recognition, good will and value for the Entrepreneur. A loyal Customer base may be built-up by the Entrepreneur that repeatedly accesses the Entrepreneur's web site via the domain name. Maintaining control over the domain name, and preventing confusingly similar domain names from appearing on the Internet, will be important factors in the success of the Entrepreneur's Internet business.
The Entrepreneur may receive important legal rights by trademarking the domain name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). For example, a trademarked domain name may receive additional legal protection under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the Lanham Act and the Anti-Cybersquating Piracy Act. Thus, trademarking the domain name gives the Entrepreneur substantial legal rights to prevent others from using confusingly similar domain names to the Entrepreneur's trademarked domain name.
Entrepreneurs regularly register domain names with a Registrar that incorporate their existing trademarks. This usually occurs when the Entrepreneur has an existing traditional business and is expanding the business by creating an Internet presence. However, for many Entrepreneurs, their domain names have not been trademarked and therefore are not as fully protected as federally registered trademarked domain names.
Entrepreneurs often fail to trademark their domain names. There are a host of reasons for this. Some Entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that by registering their domain name with a domain name Registrar, they are fully legally protected. Others are not aware of the many legal benefits of federally registering their domain names as trademarks. In addition, many Entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with the process for trademarking their domain names and they do not want to spend the time to learn the process or to pay an attorney to trademark their domain names for them. Applicants believe that many of these problems are the result of a lack of integration between the process for registering a domain name via a Registrar and the process for trademarking the domain name as a trademark with the USPTO.
Web sites are almost always created using Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) to create a standard set of tags or commands that define how web pages within a web site will be displayed by a browser. Designing a web site in HTML, or any other computer language, is a very laborious task that requires a high level of expertise and a substantial amount of time and effort. Designing a custom web site require a great deal of creativity, planning and computer expertise.
There are various products and tools commercially available to assist Entrepreneurs in designing their web sites that allow even Entrepreneurs with limited computer abilities to design their own web sites. The easiest web site designing tools to use provide a plurality of templates that Entrepreneurs may select from. Once a template is chosen, the same template may be used for each web page in the web site. The Entrepreneurs may insert text or graphics into specific locations on the chosen template set aside for those features. Templates provide a uniform look and feel for each web page within a web site so that a Customer can tell that they are in the same web site as they move from web page to web page within the web site.
Entrepreneurs often want to display their products and services with corresponding prices on their web sites. The Entrepreneurs also typically want a method of collecting information such as a shipping address and payment information from their Customers. Programming these features into the Entrepreneurs web site, while certainly possible, requires a substantial amount of expertise and effort. Each Entrepreneur would have to duplicate this cumbersome task on their web site. To simplify the process, some third party web sites offer a shopping cart or store front web site feature. Entrepreneurs initialize or set-up the store front by transmitting information regarding their goods and services (possible with graphics showing the goods), payment options/information and some display preference options to the web site designed to create the store front web site. A selection of templates may be made available to the Entrepreneur to assist the Entrepreneur in creating a visually appealing method of displaying their goods and services.
In practice, a Customer would connect to the Entrepreneur's web site and then if interested in purchasing goods or services of the Entrepreneur, would select a hyperlink to a store front web site as previously set-up by the Entrepreneur. The store front web site allows the Customer to select and purchase goods and services and pay for them at which point the store front web site may transfer the payment to the Entrepreneur. The Customer may then be linked back to the Entrepreneur's web site after the completion or cancellation of the purchase.
Applicants have noticed that the templates used to design an Entrepreneur's web site do not match the templates for designing a store front web site. This prevents the Entrepreneur's web site and the store front web site from appearing as a single virtual web site to Customers, thereby possibly confusing the Customers about the source of the goods and services they are purchasing.
Another problem for web site designers is that their work, i.e. the creative aspects of their web site, may be easily copied by competitors. The web site code may be copied and pasted in mass to a competitor's web site or the competitor may copy and recreate the layout to their web site. The fact that web sites are created using computer code that is very easily copied makes web site's designs particularly vulnerable to being stolen.
The creation of a web site on the Internet automatically provides some limited legal rights to the owner of the web site in the United States. By inserting a copyright symbol, date and name of the owner of the web site on the web site, additional legal rights may be obtained. But for the Entrepreneur to receive the maximum legal protection for their web site, they need to register, i.e. copyright, their web site with the United States Copyright Office (USCO). Despite the legal advantages, only a very small percentage of web sites ever get registered with the USCO.
The reasons that Entrepreneurs fail to copyright their web sites with the USCO are as varied as the Entrepreneurs themselves, but the primary reasons tend to be similar to the reasons that Entrepreneurs fail to trademark their domain names. As examples, Entrepreneurs often do not appreciate the legal advantages of copyrighting their web site, they do not understand the procedures for copyrighting their web site and they do not want to pay an attorney to copyright their web sites for them. Applicants believe that because conventional web site development tools do not assist the Entrepreneurs in copyrighting their web site with the USCO, many Entrepreneurs fail to fully legally protect the material within their web site by copyrighting their web sites.
Entrepreneurs' web sites may be hosted on servers that permit Customers to access the web sites over the Internet. The amount of memory and bandwidth provided by the servers for use by the web sites are typically two of the largest factors in determining the cost of the hosting services. Entrepreneurs often incorrectly estimate the amount of hosting services required by their Internet businesses, resulting in paying more for hosting services than necessary or running their Internet business with insufficient resources.
In order to increase revenue, Entrepreneurs typically try to attract additional Customers to their web sites. However, with an ever increasing number of web sites on the Internet, Entrepreneurs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new Customers to their Internet business. This trend is likely to continue as the number of businesses trying to gain a presence on the Internet significantly increases the competition for the attention of Internet Customers. The future success for many of these Internet businesses will depend on their ability to attract additional Customers to their web sites.
Web sites are predominantly found by Internet Customers through the use of a search engine or directory. Some of the more widely used search engines are, for example, AOL, Google, Yahoo, Excite and Dogpile. Customers are able to enter a search phrase comprised of one or more keywords or a phrase, typically a name of a good or service or a topic of interest, into a search engine. The search engine will display a list of web sites that the search engine has determined are related to the search phrase along with links to the web sites. The search engines invariably display the web sites in a particular order or rank. The web sites that the search engine has determined are of the highest quality or are the web sites with content most closely related to the search phrase of the Customer are displayed near the top, while lower quality web sites or those not as closely related to the search phrase are displayed lower on the list. The shear number of web sites currently on the Internet can often result in a list having multiple pages of web sites related to many common search phrases.
In an effort to increase traffic flow to their web sites, sophisticated Entrepreneurs register their web sites with one or more search engines. However, most Entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with the registration process, and even those that are familiar with the process often find it difficult and time consuming to register their web sites with a plurality of different search engines. Thus, many web sites do not receive as many Customers as they would if they were registered on a greater number of search engines.
Another common method to drive Customers to an Entrepreneur's web site is though targeted email campaigns. Many Entrepreneur web sites allow a Customer to create an account. During the account creation process, sites may allow a Customer to specify if the Customer would like to be notified of any future specials or sales. Targeted marketing campaigns may then be created from the customer accounts that help drive traffic to the Entrepreneur's web site. However, Applicants have noticed that these targeted marketing campaigns do not have a similar appearance with the Entrepreneur's Web site and thus confuse the Customer as to the source of the marketing information.
There are thus many advantageous steps that an Entrepreneur may take to protect their intellectual property and to enhance the commercial success of their Internet business. One of the main hurdles for the Entrepreneur is to complete all or as many of the steps as possible. Each step offers specific advantages while the failure to complete a step may have a detrimental effect on the eventual success of the Internet business.
There are many problems for an Entrepreneur to deal with in creating an Internet business. For example, many Entrepreneurs are not even going to be aware of all the above described beneficial steps, let alone the best order to complete the steps in. Even if they are aware of the steps, they may be unable to find the plurality of different web sites needed to complete the above recommended steps. Even after the web sites have been located, the process for completing the steps may be very complicated and often require special technical or legal knowledge. In the prior art, the Entrepreneurs had to locate all the web sites themselves and complete the desired steps without any overall guidance.
The challenge for Entrepreneurs is compounded by the fact that some of the web sites necessary to complete the above described steps are general in nature and not specifically created to assist Entrepreneurs in developing their Internet businesses. As examples, the web sites for the USPTO and the USCO have general purpose procedures since they must provide guidance to a wide variety of individuals using their services and are not able to provide specific instructions for users trademarking their domain names or copyrighting their web sites, respectively.
To further exasperate the problem for Entrepreneurs, the failure to complete any one or more steps previously outlined may have serious consequences for the Entrepreneurs' Internet business. As specific examples, the consequences may be that important intellectual property rights are not fully protected, the level of traffic to the Entrepreneur's web site may be restricted or the Entrepreneur's web site may be inadvertently contributing to identity theft. There needs to be a way for Entrepreneurs to easily and inexpensively solve these problems.
New systems and process are therefore needed to attract customers and increase traffic flow to Entrepreneurs' web sites that overcome the limitations of current methods. Thus, there remains a need for systems and processes which reduce or eliminate the problems associated with the conventional methods. Specifically, systems and processes are needed to assist Entrepreneurs in designing and protecting the intellectual property of their Internet businesses.